The Metaverse or immersive digital worlds, that we will spend more and more time in seem inevitable. Technological advancement from the last 50 years are coming together to merge into what could be called the metaverse. This may still take a few years, but the future of a ready player one style virtual world is within reach.To me this really seems inevitable. The technological macro trend is just too clear and significant to not materialise. Human creativity and effort put behind this in the last decades (or even the whole of human history until this point) is gigantic.VR, AR, internet accessability and speed, hardware, AI, game engines, digital infrastructure and crypto all made enormous advancements in the last year, pointing to a common future: The Metaverse.

Nobody knows how this future will look exactly and it will be a fluid concept until the picture gets clearer. For now I like the definition of Matthew Ball:

“A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications and payments”

People will spend more and more time in immersive virtual worlds and hopefully in a fun and meaningful way.Futhermore I think there will be “the Metaverse” just like there is “the Internet” not a internet nor facebooks internet. Facebook has a webpage on the internet, juts like they will have a virtual world in the metaverse.

Lets be honest, nobody wants JPM and GS running the digital economy and they wouldnt even be able to.This is also where Crypto will unfold its true potential. Most people think that crypto will disrupt the institutions in power, make bankers obsolete and break up “traditional” internet monopolies. The truth is: Yes and No.Crypto wont make them obsolete in the world of atoms. Crypto will simply take their place in the metaverse.That is what we are here for and building. And the moment will come.

Most people (even in Crypto) lose sight of the big picture of the multi decade long technological macro trend leading to the emergance of the metaverse. And crypto will play a precise and significant role in this trend.We dont have to build to disrupt TradFi, old institutions and the internet mafia. **We have to build to have a perfect fit for crypto in the metaverse. This requires foresight and patience, but it also gives a clear common mission and focus on the important things.**But what will be the function of crypto in the metaverse ?

Crypto will be the backbone of the digtial economy.Crypto will define the economical physics of the metaverse.

**DeFi **will be the digital finanical layer. An autonomous financial system that provides access to everybody with an internet connection and makes global, digital trade possible.

**NFTs **will function as proof of ownership. Giving digital items value and making them uniquely ownable will be essential for flourishing trade and creating wealth. Property rights, digital identity and items will be NFTs in one form or another.

DAOs are digitally native companies for capital coordination and a common mission. This is how communities will get formed and how likeminded poeple will work together.

L1s are often described as cities or nations, because they create an environment with certain characteristics, rules, culture and modus operandi that are specific to it. Just like NewYork is different from LA and the US is different from germany.But I think L1s are more fundamental than that. They are more like physics. Economical physics.There is a certain set of rules that are impossible to evade because its impossible to act outside these rules, just like physics.Physics is the L1 of reality, it dictates how everything else is done. Nations and cities are just another layer (L2) of physics with more specific rules to human society.In nations and cities you can evade the rules and find ways around them. Good luck with physics.**Hence L1s dictate the most fundamental way of operating in a certain digtial system.L1s are digitial, economical physics running autonomously in perpetuity.**Different to physics they can be prone to change. To be exact: Consensus based change, which is a whole topic on its own.

Now, lets look at a typical day in the metaverse:

Imagine walking through World of Warcraft. You pass by the MakerDAO building, where you decide to give your weapon as collateral in exchange for a loan. You receive 100 DAI (1 Dai = 1 USD).With this 100 DAI you go to the building next door, which is the Uniswap building. There you exchange your 100 DAI for some raw commodities.Traveling to the end of the road you find your guilds building. You show your NFT that verifies your identity and your guild will let you pass.In the safety of the guild you give your freshly accquired commodities to the renowned craftsman and he will forge you a better weapon.With this weapon you are now more powerful than ever before, which lets you complete more difficult quest and hence earning you more rewards.With these rewards you start paying back your loan from MakerDAO.And after repaying your loan and reaching new glory with your mighty weapon, you decide to cash out some newly earned DAI and repair your car that just broke down.

This is probably the most basic picture of how a digital economy will operate and this example is solely in a game based context, but I think the point is clear. The possibilities will be endless.

I cannot imagine anythig more exciting than the metaverse. The next years will be essential in its emergance and a thoughtful development is key to making it a common place of joy, fun and community rather than a dystopian future of digital misery.

LETS CONQUER THE METAVERSE